It is no great secret I adore clothes for little girls (unless you don’t read my blog or know me in real life and then you’re probably reading this, thinking “um - it is to me???”). When I was a child I did not like dressing frilly or girly. I went from one bad stage to the next… to worse. I think poor Nana was thrilled when my sister turned out to be the ultimate frou frou, frock-wearing, tattle-telling, can’t get the shoes dirty, hair in a bow every day, perfect little girl. (at least for the 1st part of her life) :)
Thankfully, I have a middle-of-the-road child. She doesn’t go nuts to dress up in tutus or put flowers in her hair - but she does let me do these things to her on occasion. And through her, I can see what life would have been like had I not been beating up all the little boys and wearing Chucks with my Sunday School clothes.
I wish I could sew - I wish I could think up things to make for Faith.. and then create them. I am amazingly jealous of the talent people have who can design things for other people to wear. My mother and both my Grandmothers were so talented with the sewing machine. If only I had inherited one iota of stitching ability. If only I had paid attention. Oh well..
I love visiting Rebekah’s blog all the time to see what she’s up to. I loved her picture this week. I can just imagine the pride she feels when she finishes one of her creations. And then to see it on someone she loves. How very cool.
There have been so many beautiful self portraits this month and this one from 1hotmama is my out and out favourite for this week. I know we’re only supposed to post one image for each challenge, but I think the two versions of this one image complete this story well, so I’m going to bend the rules a little. And besides, how could I choose?
I love the detail of the first, how the experiences of motherhood are mapped on her body.
And then also the soft dreamy quality of this one.
And I think I’m not the only one who would identify with her words when she wrote that she found the nude theme
especially scary for this mom of four who is still learning what beautiful can be. So here I am, stripped of the ticky-tacky trappings we cover our lives in. What does that leave? Just me. Surrounded by love, yet not without scars. Emptied of my womanness, yet full of life.
I’ve looked at all the pictures this month with awe and admiration - and I’ve really gravitated towards the “bits and pieces” shots. I feel like people have things they want to share about who they are - and by putting the spotlight on those specific parts of their body, we’re getting a glimpse of what someone thinks are their positives or negatives. Or maybe we’re just seeing a small part of someone we wouldn’t see otherwise.
But when I think of nudes - I think of being a little girl with a mother struggling through art school. We had a studio in the back of our house - and if I wasn’t in there, I was with her in the back of a class. We had the strangest stuff in that studio, as well as our house (it was during the 70’s - hello), and our world revolved around my mother’s art projects.
She did a lot of work with female nudes, and she used to do huge paintings in various mediums. I wish with all my heart that we still had them. We talked about this just the other day… but they were all discarded at garage sales or went to people with whom we’ve lost touch. I remember looking at these paintings, with their curvy, mysterious lines. The female form was never something taboo to me - it was beautiful.
The picture I chose this week reminded me of all of this. Pumkinlittle’s self portrait is probably my favorite nude so far, because it reminds me of my too-young, hippie, music-loving, single mother working and dreaming in her studio - and the beauty of the female form that used to adorn our walls when she was done. There is something so simple and honest about it. I really don’t have a story to go with my post - I just loved her picture.
I had a hard time this month. Because of some things (some good things) going on in the real world, and because of the theme.
It’s not easy to be bare naked in front of a camera, even if it’s just the camera and you. It feels like too much exposure for me, at least at this time of my life.
This has been one of the coldest winters here (if you want to know where I live, check up Porto Alegre and see how below, way below the Equator line I am, and how close to Antartica and all it’s polar air), and I’ve been a bit sick, and busy, and feeling a bit messy and ugly. Not a very good feeling to register with a shot.
I look up everyweek to the images that has been posted, and see all the images that has been sent, and mostly everytime I think, wow, why couldn’t I come up with this idea and at least give it a try? Well, I couldn’t. But I’m glad a lot of people could, talented, creative and beautiful people. (I still have one week to try, who knows!)
So my picks for this challenge was all about beauty, and beauty shown in the images because it’s felt by the self-portrayers.
I like this photo because of the great light and the new perspective. (See more of Bea.annony)
This one (from Groovyholly) reminded me of a video I’ve seen last month, that a guy made to honor his mom and her body. The woman was almoust 70-years old, and, as she says in the documentary, still looks at her body and sees prettyness.
The movie - that I strongly recomend-, made by Ken Wardrop, had some interesting choices of point-of-view and lights, and the way he shows his mom often reminded me of the ancient venus figurines (as seen here and here and here), that were made to celebrate what a woman’s body is all about: a vessel of life and joy and abundance.
And this one, by Sammiam, is just gorgeous, with the water reflections. A tasteful nude photo that insinuate more than it shows.
I hope you all enjoyed seeing the photos as much as I did. And I hope I’ll be a better self-portrayer for next month.
So, my plan to post my foray into the Nude theme during my week for picking favorites, so as to possibly avoid getting featured on the main site didn’t work out so well. Kathreen saw to that. :-)
At least I wasn’t the only guy giving it a shot, though, Thanks to JC for the company!
Here are some others that, whether they wanted to be featured on the main site or not, were just too good not to post:
Deb was both inspired and inspirational this week.
Luminous light from Madness.
There’s more than meets the eye with this week’s post from I’mPerfectMom.
I adore the almost abstract feeling to this photograph.
Finally, Betty shows us how to “capture the quality of nudity without full exposure.”
I’ve been amazed by the courage and taste displayed by all participants on this difficult theme. Keep up the good work!!
Forgive the late delivery this month but I has some technical issues. One of them was being worried about viewing the entries at my office. I’m sure the IT department would be pretty puzzled if they found out it was a woman that was generating all those hits to sites using the term nude or naked repeatedly. I’m sure they think I’m odd enough around there, I don’t need anything new to add to my list of eccentricities.
When I was about fifteen years old, I went into the bathroom one night and realized I could see my neighbors through their kitchen window, nude, making love atop the sink. Perhaps they were inspired by the film “Fatal Attraction.” I stood there quietly, the cold white hexagonal tile beneath my bare feet, watching these events unfold to their unintentional audience of one. That image of unexpectedly seeing nudity beyond a window has always stuck with me. I’m sure to have the curtains drawn at home to ensure I don’t ever have a similar visual gaffe.
I love that this week, Sam turned the concept of the Peeping Tom on it’s head. She chose to show us exactly what she wanted to through a window of her own design. She says, “I look at this image and see a strong, hearty, confident person.” So do I.
i have been hesitant to post any photos for the challenge this month. i keep questioning why and i can’t quite come up the answer. i think maybe next week, i’ll push myself to submit something. so, for this week, i admire the bravery and honesty of those who have posted. and especially love these two images.
I sat here after making my selection this week and scanned through all of my memories. I grew up on a lake (which wasn’t the type that you swimmed in - it was murky and filled with copperheads… it was lovely to look at but good grief! I don’t know how our dogs swam in there now that I think about it?? Anyway). We had a swimming pool at most of the houses we lived in… I know I was a crazy teenager and then came college (this isn’t a direct confession, mind you) so I went to plenty of pool parties - and hello Spring Break in Mexico.
But for the life of me - I can’t think of a time that I’ve jumped in a body of water completely nude. Obviously this month is bringing to light all of my issues with nudity - and perhaps I should create some sort of “nudity bucket list.” I’ll just go join a nudist camp - or not.
I was drawn to Amarettogirl’s picture, though. It’s beautiful - I love the light and the water together… it creates an ethereal, “other worldly” atmosphere. It made me think of freedom and peace - and maybe having the opportunity to take a bath by myself.
I guess I have been in the bathtub - big bathtubs.. so there’s something! Hottub!
I’ve moved from one side of the United States to the other in the past few weeks - and now that I’m (temporarily) back in Oklahoma we’ve been spending more and more time at my Mom and Dad’s house. On one hand it’s wonderful… I’ve really missed them - but on the other, this is amazingly bad timing for this month’s challenge. I can’t think of anywhere I would want to be naked *less* than at my parents’ home.
I honestly don’t know how I’m going to find a way to take the type of portraits I would like to… I can’t imagine explaining me naked in a bedroom with a tripod to Nana in any way, shape or form (just thinking about it is making me freak a little).
So I got a wee bit jealous browsing through everyone else’s photos… the whole aspect of privacy and the ability to do what you want (whenever you want) changes when you become the child again. It’s difficult to go backwards when you’re nearing the age of 40.
I absolutely loved melissatulip’s picture - it’s the epitome of what I wish I could do with a camera, but it would cause a complete scandal. I love the lush green against her skin - it’s a complete celebration of natural freedom.
